Problem with Dollfie dream joints

Hi 
I'm new to the hobby, I've technically been interested in bjd dolls for a few years but never had one 
About a few months ago I fulfilled a dream and bought a Miku Dollfie ( not a reboot )

Everything was ok except that after sitting for a couple of months her legs flew out of her hips a bit but I pushed her legs back to her hips a bit and everything was ok but
yesterday I saw that her calves were wobbling terribly. ( thighs also move a little ).

I tried to pull her apart and I am not able to separate the calf from the thigh, but I am able to pull the whole leg from the hip and the foot too. The whole mechanism in the leg looks like it moves around the inside of the leg intending to be in one place. ( I don't know how else to describe it).

I am not able to find any video of someone taking this Dollfie body model apart is anyone able to help me ?
 

Will taking the dollfie apart and reassembling it help or should I do something else ?

 

Original Miku is on the DD3 body. its different from the DD2 but the general concept is the same, and you can see the internals of the frame in the internal frame structure sticky post. There are mentions of the DD3 in there, but the links seem to all be to a site thats long since deceaced, but the idea is roughly the same.

Based on your description id guess the slip joint from the hip downwards inside the thigh has come loose. if the calf and foot rattle freely, without any connection to the rest of the body.

its unfortunately probably one of the most annoying joints to get re-attached depending on how far you want to dissasemble the leg.

50 minutes ago, finnleo said:

Original Miku is on the DD3 body. its different from the DD2 but the general concept is the same, and you can see the internals of the frame in the internal frame structure sticky post. There are mentions of the DD3 in there, but the links seem to all be to a site thats long since deceaced, but the idea is roughly the same.

Based on your description id guess the slip joint from the hip downwards inside the thigh has come loose. if the calf and foot rattle freely, without any connection to the rest of the body.

its unfortunately probably one of the most annoying joints to get re-attached depending on how far you want to dissasemble the leg.

Thank you very much

Are you able to tell me how to disassemble and repair my Dollfie ?

Should the mechanism in the dollfie separate at the knee or only the calf can be slipped off because the whole mechanism in the leg is inseparable and which exact joint are you talking about ?

Edited September 3, 2023 by Angel

So here is a photo of the leg pieces and internal frame:

And here are the different pieces:

I did forget that the "Thighbone" is actually glued to the other half of the hip joint shell pieces.

I might have over analyzed your problem initially, If the issue is that the calf outer vinyl pieces just wobble ontop of the frame excessively, but everything seems mechanically intact (no broken bones so to speak), it could be that the tubular joints probably just need to be pushed back into themselves.

and to do that in theory you just take a hold of the hip at the thigh piece and push upwards with reasonable force on the heel of the foot while the leg is straight.

theres still going to be some normal wiggle (its a framed vinyl doll afterall), but there can be a bit a difference.

Edited September 3, 2023 by finnleo

I tried to push the calf more into the thigh, it holds for a while, but after a few seconds it falls out a bit and wobbles again

I noticed that even when I connect the calf to the thigh, the joint holding the whole leg to the hip is still very deep in the thigh and I have trouble connecting the whole leg back to the dollfie 

I think I need to tighten one of the screws but I don't know quite which one
 

If you've pulled the whole knea joint (the tubular bit) out of the thigh, it most likely hasnt lined back to the rod while pushing it back in. This is the annoying bit I was refering to originally.

Approaches will vary but while dismantling the leg yesterday I used this tactic to get it back:

Using a suitable stick at the hip joint to be able to persuade the thigh-peg through the hole at the knea:

Attach the knea joint to the peg:

Pushing the knea joint back into the thigh:

things079

after which everything should more or less be where they should be.

A word of caution with this approach is that the bit where the leg attaches to the torso is a bit fragile on some early DD3's, so whatever you use as a tool musnt be too big as to not crack the plastic, and also avoid excessive force for the same reason.

The shin rod I used in the example pictures is not something I would really recommend since its very tight in the hip joint, and felt like it might even get stuck if pushed in too far.